


[Drabble] How Makoto Became Captain of the USS Enterprise 1701-F

by DirtyFreeDrabbles (MakikoIgami)



Category: Free!, Star Trek
Genre: Crossover, Gen, that stupid star trek AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-18
Packaged: 2018-05-27 11:18:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6282517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MakikoIgami/pseuds/DirtyFreeDrabbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the year 2374. The Federation is at war with the Dominion. The Enterprise-E went missing in action after the attack of the Borg Cube. </p>
<p>On a remote corner of the galaxy, Captain Makoto Tachibana receives a call back home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	[Drabble] How Makoto Became Captain of the USS Enterprise 1701-F

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this as a drabble to provide a backstory to how the hell Makoto ended up as the captain of the Enterprise. It's, well, nothing much, but I wanted to post it here so that I may start with the big story that holds everybody together some day.

There had been a call from Starfleet Command, which Makoto went to take in the conference room of the USS Galaxy. Despite its name, it wasn’t a Galaxy-class ship like the Enterprise-D had been, but a Renaissance-class ship, so it didn’t have a captain’s room, or rather, Makoto didn’t want to think of it as one. It was a small conference room and that was it.

“Captain Tachibana,” the woman on the screen greeted him.

“Admiral Brax,” he smiled, inclining his head a little in greeting. “What can I do for you today?”

“A lot of things actually,” she said shifting through a few papers. “Are you aware that you’ve been in command of the Galaxy for exactly 5 years now?”

“Has it been that long already? Ah, time sure flies,” he chuckled, wondering where all of this was leading.

“Well, you’ve achieved outstanding results on your deep space exploration mission. We’ve received a record number of new species and successful first-contact missions from you during those years! Too bad that captain Matsumoto isn’t here to witness how great the potential really is that he saw in you.”

The previous captain of the Galaxy had been killed in action, by an arrow straight to the heart from an otherwise peaceful civilization. Unfortunately they had been behind some rock formations that made it hard to beam him out and so he had died on the planet. Makoto had been devastated, because he had allowed his captain to beam down with the away team, seeing how the people below seemed to be really friendly. It had been almost 5 years now, two years after Makoto had been appointed as the new first officer, seeing how his predecessor had to resign because he couldn’t handle being on a deep space mission. Homesickness was too strong.

“Thank you admiral, but I’m sure you didn’t call just to tell me all of these things, didn’t you?” Makoto said, raising his chin just a little to straighten himself in front of the screen. He could sense that something big was going on, but he had no idea what it was.

“Are you aware the the Enterprise E went MIA after they ignored a direct order to stay away when the Borg sent a cube to Earth three months ago?” Admiral Brax asked, looking him straight in the eye.

“Of course, it’s been in all intelligence. It is said that they followed a smaller Borg ship into the past and haven’t returned ever since,” Makoto recounted what he had read about the situation. It was a great loss, many big talents have gone missing, among them Captain Picard, whom Makoto had thought to be Captain of the Enterprise until the day he died, all through the alphabet. There have been many who aspired to become the new captain, but seeing how a diplomatic and tactical prodigy like Picard was refusing to be promoted to the rank of an Admiral, the chances to become captain of Starfleet’s flagship were nil.

“Well, we have started to build a new ship that will carry the name ‘Enterprise’ and after running through many candidates, we have concluded that we would like you to try out to be her captain,” Brax said and fixed him with her thorough gaze. “The Galaxy needs rehauling anyways, so we ask you to report back to Starbase 235 for a much needed vacation for you and your crew. After that, you will report back to Earth and compete with other candidates for the post of the captain.”

Makoto was baffled. He hadn’t expected a downright invitation to become the captain of the most prestigious ship in all of starfleet after serving as a captain for just a few years on a deep space exploration. Granted, he liked his job and he knew that the initial mission of the Enterprise had been to explore and make contact with new civilizations, but with everything that was going on at the moment, the Enterprise E had turned out to be more of a warship than an exploration ship. Makoto had made pretty clear that he was a pacifist during the five years of his command of the Galaxy, therefore he doubted that he would be assigned to war missions and with the war against the Dominion from the Gamma quadrant going on, Makoto was sure that that would be the first place where the Enterprise of all ships would be.

“I… am flattered, Admiral, to say the least. Are you sure you want me, though? I have only led this deep space exploration mission with a small crew for five years as a substitute for the original captain. Everything we did is really combined effort and nothing of this is my-”

“Don’t belittle yourself, Tachibana. You are the one who held this crew together during the past five years, seven, if you count your time as counsellor before Commander Barton had to resign as well. That is a long time and you did your best during those seven years. Besides, your academy results were outstanding as well, we were all expecting you to have your own command before the age of 25, too.”

“Again, I am flattered, Admiral,” Makoto started, feeling the tips of his ears turn red. This was almost too much praise for him, even if he felt confident in his role as the captain, he still stood by his word that everything he had achieved was a joint effort by the crew and himself and he felt unsure if he should just leave them to themselves. “But… I don’t know-”

“If you’re worried about your crew, I’ve already talked to your first officer, your medical officer and a few other right under you. You have their support and are sure that they will be able to carry on in your name, but I’m sure you need some time to talk to them. Report back to me in 24 hours, I will be expecting your positive reply by then.”

“Thank you, Admiral, for everything. I will report back tomorrow. Until then,” Makoto nodded and turned off the communication signal.

Captain of the Enterprise. Him.

That was something that needed to sink in for a while.

But he would be mad if he passed up on that chance, but only if he could choose some of his crew. He already knew who he wanted to be his first officer, a young Bajoran girl he had met briefly during his time at the academy, headstrong and ready to fight everyone who dared to tell her to take off her earring, her d'ja pagh, and that was something Makoto liked. They had gotten along well enough and if he had to choose anyone else but his current first officer she would be it. 

And when Makoto realized that he was already planning his whole crew, he knew that he had accepted Admiral Brax’ offer to become the next captain of the USS Enterprise.


End file.
